Author Topic: Science Fiction / Fantasy (Read 487733 times)

PatH · « **Reply #280 on:** August 06, 2009, 12:49:32 PM »

Science Fiction / Fantasy

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Welcome to the whole universe! This is where we gather to share our experiences in science fiction and fantasy. We like everything, from Gregory Benford to Stephanie Meyer—hard science to magic and fantasy.

Come in, sit down with us, and tell us what you are reading or have read, what you like or dislike.

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Discussion Leader: PatH

mrssherlock · « **Reply #281 on:** August 06, 2009, 03:55:17 PM »

David Weber's Honor Harrington series was great fun to read so I was excted to se in FF that he has starrted a new series. grin beginning as the human race is essentially wiped in the first few pages by a horde called Gbaba who have anhilated race after race in space. Oddly though the Gbaba have been manufacturing their space4 ships for more than 8 millinia, as was discovered when some captured ships were analyzed, the latest model is identical in all respects to the 8000 yr-olds. No knowing how our colonies were detected earth establishes a new colony which will have no technology on a planet called Safehome. How that goal was achieved has caused a rift in the caretakers of Safehome. That's all I've gotten so far. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/david-weber/off-armageddon-reef.htm

Steph · « **Reply #282 on:** August 07, 2009, 08:16:09 AM »

Pat, we were on the road in the rv when the conversion took place.. We did not need a converter box, but it is much much harder to get a decent signal with an antenna now.. My husband was furious. A lot of rv parks do not do cable and we refuse to use the dish.

Babi · « **Reply #283 on:** August 07, 2009, 09:21:41 AM »

I've never watched Burn Notice, JACKIE, but if it's that funny I'm obviously
missing something. I'll be sure and take a look. And I'm delighted to hear
Weber has a new series; I also loved Honor Harrington.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #284 on:** August 07, 2009, 11:51:32 AM »

Well, first of all Burn Notice ended its season last night. Second, it is kind of straight spy-shoot-em-up and kind of parody. Last night had a few funny bits but was pretty grim since the hero's GF was kidnapped. It's funny because every element is just that tad over the edge. The bad guys are soooo bad, etc. Sharon Gess plays his (Mchael's) mother and she is almost a stereotype mother: always smoking, wearing huuuge dangly hoop earrings, she sort of knows what Michael does so she hints, last night she called Michael and his Buddy, Sam (Bruce Cambell) Butch and Sundance as they sat at her dining table and checked their weapons before going out to the ramparts once again.

Babi · « **Reply #285 on:** August 08, 2009, 08:34:06 AM »

Ah, well, there will no doubt be re-runs. I'll eventually get a chance to decide
if that 'tad over the edge' is funny or irritating. Somehow, if it's done on purpose it can be funny but if it's just bad writing I get annoyed.
Does the stereotype mother wear dangly earrings? I never even had my
ears pierced. But then, of course, there are different stereotypes, aren't there?

Steph · « **Reply #286 on:** August 08, 2009, 10:07:51 AM »

Hah.. Babi, piercing my ears with my 50th birthday present to myself. I used that year as a makeover.. I joined the gym, stopped smoking, started walking, pierced my ears and lost weight ( However the last found it again somehow).

mrssherlock · « **Reply #287 on:** August 08, 2009, 11:28:17 AM »

Babi: I guess the better word would be iconic. Sharon Gess is not everybody's mom but she is typwe of mom. If she word glasses they'd be sutsy frames maybe with rhinestones. Her earrings last time were approx. 2.5 inches, black with white dots. Since this is Florida, maybe she's the mom who moved to Florida? Steph, does this sould familiar? Do you see these women walking around with their earrings distracting your attention, even from what she's saying?

Babi · « **Reply #288 on:** August 09, 2009, 08:32:52 AM »

STEPH, I gasp as the casual ease with which you wrote..'stopped smoking'. I,
thank God, never started smoking, but I have watched the terrific struggle my
younger daughter has gone through to break the habit. And she still finds
herself wanting one on occasion.
I joined a gym once. It was a 'lifetime' purchase. However, by the time the
business had changed hands a couple of times, the 'lifetime' bit had vanished
down the drain. Still, it was good for me while it lasted.
JACKIE, my idea of a 'makeover' was to start wearing my hair in a shorter
style and using make-up more cnsistently. Wild, that's me.

Steph · « **Reply #289 on:** August 09, 2009, 09:35:24 AM »

Stopping smoking was the single hardest thing I ever did as an adult. Whew.. it was at least a year before I wanted one so bad and maybe five years before the whole idea left me cold. However I did it and my husband did as well, once I said I would. Boy does it affect your brain for at least a month or so..
Makeup.. I always have good intentions, but generally forget to actually wear it.. However I do love earrings, not thelong long danglers, but smaller ones.. My husband and two sons lovedit when the ears were pierced. I got a lot of earrings over the years from them. They know I love studs and I probably have every color and gemstone now..

mrssherlock · « **Reply #290 on:** August 09, 2009, 02:10:14 PM »

When I was in my 40s I went back to school to finish my BA. This was in the 70s and everyone had pierced ears. Well, at a party one night, a friend volunteered topierce then for me. Worked like a charm and ever since I have had holes in my ears. Only one set of holes, however. When I was working I shopped endlessly for new ones, eBay, estate sales, boutiques. When I retired I must have had more than 100! Now all I wear is a set of gold hearts but I'm looking for the perfect gold bamboo hoops, about 1" at the perfect price! So far no luck. If it's the right price it's not the right gold or bamboo and vice versa.

Babi · « **Reply #291 on:** August 10, 2009, 08:08:09 AM »

STEPH, that's why my daughter failed on an earlier attempt to stop smoking.
It affected her brain so badly she thought she was going crazy. Later she
talked with her doctor and he explained what was actually happening. Armed
with that info., she has been able to stay with it this time.

I went back to college in my 40's also, JACKIE, but had no impulses to pierce
my ears. Perhaps that was because the only college offering the course I
wanted was a Catholic college located on conventual grounds. Whole different
ambience there.

Steph · « **Reply #292 on:** August 10, 2009, 08:31:43 AM »

I have two sets of gold bamboo hoops. One quite small and another that is larger. Love them. But my favorites just now are small glass types of all colors.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #293 on:** August 10, 2009, 10:38:24 AM »

Last night NatGeo had a fascinating program that let us see what the world looks like with the oceans drained. It is being repeated Tuesday night and is well worth the time. Using mapping technology and computer graphics we saw stunning vistas. Monterey Bay has a canyon that is similar to the Grand Canyon in size but there are no rivers to account for ther deep fissure which reaches 10,000 feet. The Atlantic ridge is shown as a line of mini volcanos, burping lava and flame. I was mesmerized for the etire 2 hours. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/drain-the-ocean-3639/Overview?sicontent=0&sicreative=3802631002&siclientid=804&sitrackingid=52998448&source=link_semgngc_108

mrssherlock · « **Reply #294 on:** August 13, 2009, 05:01:39 PM »

Patrick Rothfuss is a new author for me and I don't remember where I heard about him but his first book in the Kingkiller series, The Name of the Wind had me missing sleep for the last several days. It is a fantasy which is reich in depth, full of surprises, characters that capture my mind and heart. This story of a wunderkind who has a log and rocky path to travel is full of uinexpected turns and twists, never predictable except in the major themes of love, treachery, adventure, innocence, evil - all the stuff good fantasies require. Check it out: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/patrick-rothfuss/

Also read the lastest in the Morganville vampire chronicles (Rachel Caine). Seems Amilie's bad, bad daddy has come to town to kill her and tiake over. The kids at Glass House are torn and twisted as the world falls apart around them.

David Weber's Off Armagedon Reef has ensnared me and I will be eager to continue this story of the remnants of our civilization who have been deliberately deprived of all knowledge of technology lest the Gbab turn the Safehome into a cinder as they have done to all others in the past 8000 years. Ah, but there is a fly in the ointment. seems the founding fatherss plans went awry, or did they?

Babi · « **Reply #295 on:** August 14, 2009, 08:32:05 AM »

I do hope my library gets the new David Weber series. In fact, I need to check
in with Fantastic Fiction and identify his other series. Honor Harrington was my
first introduction to him and I read all of those.

JoanK · « **Reply #296 on:** August 17, 2009, 02:02:14 PM »

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PatH!

Babi · « **Reply #297 on:** August 18, 2009, 08:22:30 AM »

Is it Pat's birthday?! Yahoo!!

[size=14HAPPY BIRTHDAYPAT!!pt][/size]

Steph · « **Reply #298 on:** August 18, 2009, 08:33:27 AM »

Happy Birthday Pat.

I have had the latest in paperback Laurell Hamilton here and have tried three times to get into it. She has finally just lost me. I loved her early stuff, but now it is sex...sex..sexx. and then more sexxx. Stupid.

PatH · « **Reply #299 on:** August 18, 2009, 04:26:06 PM »

Hi, everyone. I've been out of things for a few days, traveling to the LA area to visit grandson Robert, now 6 months. Yesterday JoanK and her family joined us so she and I could celebrate our joint birthday together--5 adults, 4 children, and 2 cats in a small apartment--hectic but fun. Now I've moved to JoanK's for 2 days, then home.

As a birthday treat, my SIL took me to see "District 9" We both agreed it's the best Science Fiction movie we'd seen in years--an incredibly good job. BUT it is also extremely bloody, gross, and violent. I have a strong stomach for these things, and it was about at my upper limit.

That said, it's an extremely well done combination of social commentary and shoot-em-up chases, with a plot that keeps you guessing and action so fast-paced that you are on the edge of your seat most of the time. The special effects are really good, and so is the acting.

But don't go unless you think you can stomach the grossness.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #300 on:** August 18, 2009, 11:31:00 PM »

Happy Birthday, PatH and JoanK. the movie sounds like one I will want to see.

Steph · « **Reply #301 on:** August 19, 2009, 07:49:43 AM »

I just sat through Public Enemies, think I will pass over still more grossness. That one was bad enough.

Babi · « **Reply #302 on:** August 19, 2009, 09:28:33 AM »

Ah, a bit of a dilemma there, PAT. Still, and 'extremely well done' SciFi
movie is not a thing to dismiss lightly. And I do watch the CSI shows; they
can really be unecessarily gross sometimes. All in all, I think I will want
to see this one.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #303 on:** August 19, 2009, 03:48:45 PM »

CSI may be gorss but I've seen some real horrors on Bones. SF movies haven't bothered me much but "Alien" almost did me in. I saw the old, original, B&W 'Night of the Living Dead" and was surprised at how it got to me.

Babi · « **Reply #304 on:** August 20, 2009, 08:30:32 AM »

Oh, yeah, JACKIE. "Bones" doesn't yield a thng to CSI when it comes to
things I'd rather not see. My daughter and I tend to look away when those
scenes come up. I did see "Alien"...and it's one I never cared to see in a
re-run. Once was enough.
What was that movie where alien beings formed into human doubles inside
watermelons? You'd think that ridiculous, right? My husband and I saw that
one afternoon, came out somewhat stunned. We walked out to our car, paused, looked at one another.....and checked the trunk before we got in the
car! Now that is a powerful film.

Steph · « **Reply #305 on:** August 20, 2009, 09:06:40 AM »

Creature from the Black Lagoon affected me that way.. But the worse was The Hannibal Lector series. I read them and had a horrible time going to sleep for months.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #306 on:** August 20, 2009, 09:20:21 AM »

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, AKA Pod-people, sounds like the one you mentioned, Babi. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/ Jack Finney, author of Time and Again was one of the writers.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #307 on:** August 20, 2009, 09:21:37 AM »

James Arness in "The Thing" was another one I had trouble with.

Steph · « **Reply #308 on:** August 21, 2009, 08:03:42 AM »

Whew.. the old movies that we remember.

Babi · « **Reply #309 on:** August 21, 2009, 08:09:24 AM »

That's it, STEPH. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
I haven't read the Hannibal Lector books, don't intend to, and had the rare good sense to decline seeing the films as well.
"Time and Again" was a very different type of film, though. I really liked
it, though I always find these time shift themes confusing. You know it can't
really work, so you have to suspend good sense to enjoy them.

PatH · « **Reply #310 on:** August 21, 2009, 10:40:24 AM »

Wow! What a nostalgia trip! I'm trying to calibrate your tolerances from what you've just said. I didn't see "Alien", but I'm guessing that's about the level of "District 9". I definitely found "D9" stronger than "Night of the Living Dead", but in a different way--in "Living Dead" you are in a situation you could really be in in your ordinary life, which makes it scarier. I guess I recommend asking someone who knows you if you would like the movie. Oh, it also has bad language, though appropriate to what's happening.

PatH · « **Reply #311 on:** August 21, 2009, 10:52:34 AM »

While we're being nostalgic, does anyone remember the 1951 movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still"? It was shot in Washington, DC, and when it first came out I had a good time figuring out just where we were, as well as enjoying the movie. My SIL gave me the DVD, and it holds up surprisingly well. It's dated, and pretty tame by today's standards, but it's still fun to watch.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #312 on:** August 21, 2009, 01:15:05 PM »

The Day the Earth Stood Still turns up fairly often on TV and I saw it just a few months ago. It is still compelling; so many of its elements became SF icons. Pat Neal was so lovely as the Girl Next Door. When I was in Jr High the entire school walked the mile or so to our neighborhood theater for a special matinee of The Beginning of the End, an Apocalypse tale which filled us with the horror of using nuclear weapons. I wonder how many of us in that audience became Peaceniks? I certainly did.

Steph · « **Reply #313 on:** August 22, 2009, 04:38:49 PM »

The Day the Earth Stood STill was a wonderful picture. Still is..
I am trying to remember the Australian author who wrote an end of the world and new beginning book set there. It was an old favorite of mine. The author was very popular.. Good writer.

PatH · « **Reply #314 on:** August 22, 2009, 05:58:36 PM »

How about Nevil Shute "On the Beach"?

Frybabe · « **Reply #315 on:** August 22, 2009, 08:17:30 PM »

I am sure I have seen The Day the Earth Stood Still but the most memorable oldie SciFi for me is This Island Earth.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #316 on:** August 23, 2009, 01:54:21 AM »

This Island Earth was unforgettably "done" by Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Science_Theater_3000

This family has very low humor. We like Monty Python and MST3K among others.

Steph · « **Reply #317 on:** August 23, 2009, 10:04:21 AM »

Thanks,, Yes, On the Beach,, which was also made into a movie.. My favorite end of civilization was the Pat Frank... Alas, Babylon, which was set in central Florida yet.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #318 on:** August 23, 2009, 12:13:40 PM »

Alas, Babylon, couldn't remember the title, thanks. It's available at my library so I'll pick it up next time.

Steph · « **Reply #319 on:** August 24, 2009, 07:51:55 AM »

Monty Python.. Oh we are huge fans or them and for their predecessors..Four guys who included two of the Monty Python and two others. They were on Broadway years and years ago and I have forgotten their names. We loved the show and used to quote it to each other when we were a bit younger.. Still do the French castle routine in our family. We broke both boys in young to Monty and we all four loved the routines.. The parrot has now been taught to our 13 year old Granddaughter , who is obliging, but doesnt quite get the humor..

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Author Topic: Science Fiction / Fantasy (Read 487733 times)